D-STAR Test Results
with FEMA and the US ArmyLast year’s
devastating hurricanes revealed huge problems with
communications integration. Here N9JA reveals how ICOM’s D-STAR could be
used as a possible solution.

By Ray Novak, N9JA

I want to share with you information from our
demonstration for FEMA and the US Army. I think it is about time to let
the cat out of the bag.

Early in 2006, ICOM and several other vendors
were asked to participate in a demonstration for FEMA and the US Army. The
demonstration was designed to illustrate possible solutions to some of the
communications issues experienced during the responses to Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita last year.

In mid-February, the vendors and some
volunteers gathered discretely to show the capabilities of an integrated
communications design that included high-speed network connectivity via
satellite, multiple mechanisms to transport network data, WiFi, and
interconnected voice capabilities via VoIP, standard FM, and digital voice
with D-STAR. The premise of the exercise was to illustrate a group of
first responders actually being deployed, then having that team relay
vital tactical and strategic information to other team members hundreds to
thousands of miles away, and provide a seamless integration of this
information into existing networks. The operation required full
integration of voice and data networks, along with adding significant data
capability to individuals in the response team.

While there were many items covered in our
demonstration, I will focus just on the amateur radio portion of this
demonstration.

Demonstration Overview: Both tactical and
strategic communications relayed to the proper authorities through an
integrated voice and data network.

Long-Haul Communications: For the long-haul
communications, both FEMA and the US Army requested that our focus shift
from HF to new and more robust communication methods. One comment that was
made during the demonstration was “Why say it, when you can send it?” This
underscored the importance of concise, accurate communications
capabilities.
Thus, the primary focus was data, data, and more data. The government
agencies obviously have satellite data solutions. The most recent solution
to come on line is Hugh’s R-BGAN Satellite solution. For those who are
interested, there is a great resource of information on the R-BGAN
technology at: <http://www.
aosusa.com/bgan.html>.

With the bandwidth that was available with the
R-BGAN technology, there was a lot of normal, everyday type communications
being provided via network as well as VoIP communications. I realize that
none of this really pertains to amateur radio, but this needs to be shared
here so you see how D-STAR integrated seamlessly into the local
communications network.

Now to the core of the D-STAR demonstration!
There were some specific requests from FEMA and the US Army that needed to
be addressed for the first responders. Here are some of them, and how we
were able to immediately meet the requirements with D-STAR’s simultaneous
voice and data capabilities: